Rejecting and Rebelling
by Masked Manipulator
Summary: He wouldn't let his parents move him to another school. He wouldn't.
1. It's Raining and Pouring

I honestly HATED the last piece, so I wrote a new piece to make myself feel better.  
>Uh... and I do realize I haven't updated 'Headache'? I just think it's hideous, and does anyone really want me to continue it? If not, I'll <strong>gladly<strong> delete it. But it'd be rude if anyone actually thought it was okay, right?  
>Thanks to ThE-faInTinG-faNGirl for faving it, and FlyingMintBunny579 for alerting and reviewing the story.<br>Anyway, ONWARDS!

_~She rolls the window down...~_

Kashino was pissed. And he felt no intnetion of hiding it. He stormed down the halls of St. Marie, drawing scared stares, whispers of 'It's Akuma-senpai'. He glares at the offenders, who scatter. He then resumes parting the crowd, like the Red Sea. Even the Heiress was steering clear of him, and his tension and fury roll off of him in thick waves. 

"M-Ma-kun?" Andoh Sennosuke nervously addresses his long-time friend. "D-Dostano?" 

The younger, blond, boy cuts his eyes in the confectioner's direction. "Nandemonai."

The four syllables are fraught with irritation. He then marches on to take his anger out on... on... He pauses. He deliberates for a moment, then turns abruptly, making people run out of his way again.

"You're scaring people..." Andoh points out.

Kashino doesn't hear this, regaining awareness of his surroundings, and his ill temper.

"Ja ne, Ma-kun." "Ja."

His answer is short, and the door slams shut behind him as he leaves.  
>'Ma-kun is scary...' Andoh muses as he heads back to his dorm. 'I wonder why he's so irritated, though.'<p>

~_And she talks over the sound...~_

The chocolatier rowed himself out into the middle of the lake, then glared at his reflection. If he squinted, he could pretend that it was his mother that he glared at. Stupid parents. He'd never let them transfer him to a medical school. He wouldn't.

In a fit of anger, he smashes the oar down on his reflection. Soaking, he pulls the oars in to calm himself. Anger must not cloud his mind if he was to temper.

Just as if the sky feels his foul mood, it begins to dump rain onto his head. So he sits there for awhile, telling himself that the wetness on his face are not tears.

~_Of all the cars that pass us by~_

I'm gonna stop there, 'cause I'm a horrible person like that. XD

Akuma-senpai: Demon upperclassman  
>Ma-kun: In the anime, Andoh often calls Kashino this name.<br>Dostano: What's wrong?  
>Nandemonai: Nothing<p>

Ya'll can thank LollipopOhLalala for the Romanji index. Thanks again for reviewing Bowing Out.  
>I know I'm a bad person because the chapters too short, but I'm hungry, and I want to eat dinner.<br>I promise I'll be better at updating my next chapter, okay?


	2. Break the News

...Erm...Hi? I have a new, terribly written chapter. Yay. ...But it's a chapter, right?

_-Rejecting-and-Rebelling-_

The clock strikes 7, and Ichigo waits for the door to open, admitting Kashino. When it doesn't, she stops stirring her cream, and looks at the door in confusion.

Pouting a little, she complains to Vanilla; "Isn't Kashino the one who scolds me about keeping proper routines? And then he doesn't show up to temper like he usually does." Cheeks puffed out, she mutters to herself as she picks up the whisk and the bowl.

"Yeah, but I wonder if something's happened to him. Chocolat's being weirdly quiet." Vanilla notes, taking a glance at the other Sweets Spirit. She's pensive, unaware of her surroundings. "I guess, but-"

"Ma-kun? Are you in here?" Andoh peers into the kitchen. "Ah, Andoh-kun. Kashino isn't in here right now." The girl informs him. "Where's Caramel?"

They're interrupted when the doors slam open. A menacing figure stalks in, and goes to his station. His eyes are dark with fury and despair, hands shaking with sadness and anger.

Unnerved, the two other A Group members exchange glances. Ichigo inches towards Chocolat. "Ano, Chocolat, what's wrong with Kashino?"

The dark-haired Sweets Spirit stares up at her. "You don't know?" She's serious, and her red eyes are just as heavy and worn as her partner's.

"Iia." Andoh answers for both of them, sneaking a cautionary glance in his best friend's direction. Vanilla also drifts over casually to listen.

"Kashino- his parents. You all know how they didn't want him to become a patissier. He's kept his part of the bargain- kept his grades up at the top. But his parents are a different story." She takes a deep, steadying breath.

"They want to withdraw him from St. Marie. They want to transfer him to a medical school."

_-Rejecting-and-Rebelling-_

End chapter. That's it. Yes, I'm evil and stingy.

Reviews make me update faster, though~~~. (Probably)


	3. Into the Lion's DenFortitude

Merry belated Christmas! I finally decided to get up to updating it- but forgive me if the characterizations are starting to become off- I've kind of moved out of the Yumeiro Patissiere fandom- and thus my writing motivation for this story has declined. That is also why you haven't heard from this in over a month- and high school is utterly brutal. (And I should probably be working on my English paper)

-Rejecting and Rebelling-

"What?" Andoh and Ichigo react the same way- wide eyes. Ichigo presses on to say: "But- they can't! That's not fair!"

Kashino looks up from across the room, a wry expression on his face. "I'm not sure if anyone's told you, Cake-Pig. But life isn't fair, and neither are my parents."

"Don't call me Cake-Pig! I'm not a Cake-Pig!" She's momentarily sidetracked until she processes the rest of his sentence. "But still-"

"There's something you just don't seem to understand, Amano-san." Andoh is quiet, visibly upset, but his voice is calm. "Kashino-san- that is, Ma-kun's mother, has never really played fair when it comes to something she wants. While Ma-kun's sister has stopped pressuring him to become a doctor, this does not extend to his parents."

Kashino glances out of the window, scowling. "Most certainly not. Now if you have time to complain, you have time to practice- your macaroons still need work." He doesn't tell them that his parents have required him to see them the next day. Instead of tuning out her complaints of how he was evil, and cut no one any slack as usual, he listens. He knows full well that it could be one of the last times he hears them. This makes him slightly melancholy, but he shoves it to a dark corner of his mind. He needs to temper now.

-Rejecting and Rebelling-

Saturday morning dawns placidly, with clouds gliding through the sky in streaks. He dresses quietly- if not, the idiot Rose-boy will wake and tip the other two off about him leaving. Kashino eases the door shut, letting out a sigh.

Inside the room, Hanabusa sits up in bed, staring at the door. Andoh and Ichigo had informed him of the situation yesterday evening. However, his mind is hazy, still half in his dreams. _Where is he going? To temper?_ He settles for this as the most likely option, and succumbs to his slumber again.

The morning is fairly crisp, and Kashino draws his dark gray peacoat more tightly around himself. He was... more calm, than yesterday. Showing any sign of weakness to his mother was unforgivable, a mistake he could not afford to make if he was ever to stay in St. Marie Academy. It was a dangerous game he was about to play, one that reminded him overwhelmingly of a siege, of war. He remembers when he was small, and before cherishing a dream of being a chocolatier, he had, like every young boy, played at war and being a hero. However, unlike a game, he was placing everything on the back of a risky gamble.

_Fortitude_. He tells himself. _Courage in the face of adversity._ He reflects on this, getting on and riding the bus to the nearest place to the Kashino manor.

He draws in a deep breath, staring at the gates. _Fortitude._ He repeats to himself. Then, Muraoka notices him, and the black gates open. He enters the lion's den, and raises his head high as he does. _I can't lose this game. The prize, the gamble, is too important to me. _He opens the door to the place he once called home, squaring his choulders, and fixing a blank look to his face. _I've fought too much and too hard for this dream. I've always forged my own path. I'm not going to start backing down now._

__-Rejecting and Rebelling-

"Makoto. Come in." The voice is high, cold steel, and Kashino is hit by a momentary panic. _A Group. Chocolate._ He reminds himself, and he walks into the living room.

"I hope you have reconsidered?" Kashino Rin is well suited to her name, Rin meaning cold, severe.

"I have not." He's blunt, honest as he always is. "I never will. And you know that."

The room seems to get colder, and his mother's brow creases just the smallest amount. "Then I'm afraid we have reached a disagreement."

"We have." There is tension between them, but he manages to wonder idly where his father and sister are.

"Your father will be here in 10 minutes. Something came up at the hospital. Your sister is finishing a paper for her medical school." It was frightening. Kashino Rin was a good reader of people, and she seemed to be able to probe his mind with the most irritating ease. He glares defiantly at her. In this, he is safe, and they both know that.

"How irritating. Why do you even want to stay in that school? Why make pretty cakes for the rest of your life when you could be such a brilliant doctor? Is cooking better than helping people?" The words sting. They sting because all of those questions are questions that, at one point, he had asked himself. But its also because of that, he has an answer for his mother.

"I-"

-Rejecting and Rebelling-

Cliffhanger. ^_^ *runs away*

Many thanks to all of my reviewers, and the patient people who waited for me to update. Please don't kill me, and review!

(See, I gave you a longer chapter this time. And this chapter's important.)


	4. Compassion

"At one time, I was able to witness the birth of a little girl's dream." He's even surprised himself at the words that flow easily out of his mouth. He goes with it, however- Kashino Makoto did not lie, so if these words came out of his mouth, they were true.

Kashino Rin raises an eyebrow at the sentence. "Dream? You're prattling on still about _dreams,_ of all things? I thought you were smarter than that." Her tone is scornful. He had expected nothing less from her.

He raises his head to look her squarely in the eye. "I sometimes wondered if being a patissier was worth it. I wondered if, maybe, I would be better off as a doctor. I asked myself if, as much as I love chocolate, it would be better for everyone if I became a doctor, someone who could save lives." And then inside, he winces because he's babbling, and he most certainly did _not_ babble, dammit-

His eyes harden. "I thought about it for a long time- years, even. Then I was able to see that. And I knew I had my answer."

His mother rolls her eyes, clapping mockingly. "And then you had a pithy epiphany about how baking was your calling, and that you loved it, and creating dreams made it worth it." Her lips thin, and she looks coldly at him. "Is that it?"

"No. I realized it made me happy to be able to do that. It made me happy, working with chocolate." His gaze is equally cold. "If I became a doctor, I'd become cold. Uncaring. I'd lose every bit of humanity, every bit of compassion that I'd ever possessed. Because I don't love it."

"So you decided to be selfish?" The barbed remark stings, because, he realizes, it's somewhat true.

"No, mother. Makoto decided to be true to himself. And that's what you'd always wanted for him- you named him Makoto, truth- did you not?"

Both mother and son whirl about to stare at his sister in the doorway. Kashino Rin regains her composure first.

"And what makes you say that, Rei?" Her eldest child sits down, and she draws in a deep breath. Kashino Rin is a force to be reckoned with, and when dealing with their mother, she needs all the courage she can muster.

"Not so very long ago, I had Muraoka kidnap Makoto. I wanted him to miss and thus fail the finals at St. Marie, and to talk him into being a doctor." The older woman raises a perfect brow.

"I never heard about this."

"His friends came after him."

_**-Rejecting and Rebelling-**_

"Ichigo-chan! Andoh! Kashino is gone!" Hanabusa is frantic as he bursts into the kitchen.

"What?" Both look up from their respective genoises, and drop everything.

"And Chocolat?" Ichigo presses.

"I... don't know. Neither of them were in the dorm when I woke up."

_**-Rejecting and Rebelling-**_

"The girl, Amano Ichigo. She climbed over our fence to get to him." Rei shook her head in disbelief. "And then she struck a deal with me. She said that if I would taste a cake that they made, and proclaimed it delicious, then Makoto would go back to St. Marie with them. If I didn't, he would drop out and become a doctor."

Kashino scowled at the memory. It had been a bold move- unbearably risky, incredibly unlikely, and just completely reckless.

"I had thought to myself: How foolish this girl is! There is no way that I would say it was delicious- I would say it wasn't, just to get him to become a doctor. I wanted to laugh at this foolish, earnest child. Then, they brought it to me."

She paused, a bit of wicked amusement dancing in her eyes. "They brought me an Opera."

Kashino Rin laughed at that, high, cold, amusement at the presumptiousness of it, to bring Rei a cake that she had tasted the finest of.

Kashino scowled even more deeply, blushing a little at how his family members laughed. He wished his father would hurry up and come already- he had always been the least pressing on his dreams, and the least mocking of his decision.

"And?" The mother prompted.

"Then, I tasted it. I was full of confidence, and then..." She trailed off, a nostalgic look on her face. "I... It wasn't an ordinary cake, mother. It was no ordinary Opera. I had it, and I tasted compassion." Slightly nervous now, she fixed her gaze onto her glasses, which she took off, cleaning.

"I told them it tasted well. And then I let Makoto go. He's grown up in the blink of an eye, made his own allies, and forged his own path. I'm proud of my little brother."

She lifts her head. "And from what I've seen, he's even fall-"

"You see, mother? Aneki (older sister) agrees with me." Kashino interrupts quickly.

"...Let her finish, Makoto." Interest gleams in her brown-gold eyes. "I want to hear what Rei has to say.

_**-Rejecting and Rebelling-**_

"Both of them? Gone? Could Kashino's sister have kidnapped them again?" Ichigo paces, panicking at all the possiblilities.

"Amano-san, calm down. Panicking about it isn't going to help Ma-kun." Andoh is gently reprimanding. He doesn't want to give orders- its presumptious, really, but he needs everyone to remain calm for the time being.

Hanabusa shakes his head. "She's right, Andoh. We have no idea where he could be right now- none at all. We can't call him- he left his cell phone on his bedside table. We have no means of contacting him, he don't even know if he's still in this country, or in this world for that matter-"

"And panicking about it isn't going to help, Hanabusa. If we wish to be of any aid to Ma-kun, we _must stay calm._" He emphasizes the last three words. He's also out of his mind with worry, but someone had to stay calm. He could be worrying and crazy later and alone, where it wouldn't serve to deteriorate the situation even further.

"Caramel, you can send Chocolat a message through your utensils, right? Why don't we try that, first?"

_**-Rejecting and Rebelling-**_

**End of chapter. Earlier update, everyone! Thank you to everyone who reviewed/favorited! I went into the double digits for reviews! *dances around like a crazy person* Thank you to all of my awesome reviewers!**

**14AmyChan: Thank you for reviewing so much! ^_^ I put in a bit of a hint about that for you- did you catch it?**

**lell: Thank you so much! As you can see, I have updated!**

**Mikashimoto: Like 14AmyChan, thank you so much for reviewing ALL of my chapters. You two are supremely awesome!**

**StrawberryDream15: Sorry about the cliffhangers- I'm just lazy, so I cut it off when I deem it a decent length, OTL. Thanks for reviewing and alerting!**


	5. Team

**Chapter 5: Team**

**Um. ^_^UUU. Hi?**

Kashino Rin raises an eyebrow, coldly interested. "What is it, Rei?" She asks, watching for a chink in the armor that her son presented her with.

Kashino bites his lip, eyes narrowing, cursing in his head. Could he do this? Could he still win? He runs through his playing cards, wonders how to patch up this weakness to save himself.

His sister looks up, a small smile playing at the edge of her lips. "Makoto. He's fallen for someone." She glances at her little brother, a teasing light in her eyes.

Their mother is taken aback by this- she loses composure for just a moment. "Fallen in love?" She asks, leaning forward.

"What an... interesting development." She says, processing the information, scouting this vulnerability of Makoto's.

"So what?" He stands suddenly, the exclamation violent. "And if I have, what of it?" The chair he was sitting in wobbles dangerously, and he steadies it, scowling vigorously.

"Nothing. You may go, Makoto." Kashino Rin nods once in cold dismissal. He surprised by her reaction, and stares openly for a moment before bowing once and leaving the room. What did she have planned? What exploitation was coming of this weakness? He wonders, and the suspense, the not-knowing is more frightening than the threat of transfer.

For the transfer he could fight against- the transfer, he could hate and change. But he could not fight something he did not know. He couldn't change something he didn't know was happening.

All he could do was defend himself- prepare himself, he supposed. Angry, he kicks the gate open, and storms along the road. He needs the walk.

His friends don't need to know about this. They don't need to become involved- they don't need to be in danger of his mother.

Amano doesn't need to be used by that woman.

_**-IXI-ixi-ixi-ix-IXI-**_

"Kashino!" Chocolat greets him at the edge of the grounds of St. Marie. "So...How was it?" She wants to know.

He shrugs. He doesn't know. But he does his best to smile a little. "Let's go temper, Chocolat." He says, walking back towards the main campus, listening to her narrate a fight she'd had with Vanilla.

He opens the door to the kitchens, and- "Kashino!" He's greeted by his team members. He's quizzed on where he'd gone, whether he'd heard from his parents- and he lies. He tells them he'd gone on a walk around the campus grounds, that, no, he hadn't heard anything more on the transfer, and will they please leave him alone so he can get some tempering done?

But he's touched by their concern, and he's able to forget the niggling worry about what will come next as he tempers the smooth chocolate. He lets a tiny smile make its way on his face as he works with the chocolate he loves so much- as he listens to the background noise and chatter that his best friends make.

He's turning into a sentimental old fool, he realizes, but he can't help but to be grateful now for everything he'd taken for granted before. It was amazing, reflecting on it, how much better and important everything seemed now that it may be taken away.

"Kashino, I can wash that." He looks up, startled as he's cleaning up his board and tempering tools. Ichigo smiles at him, hand out for the supplies.

"Aa... Thanks." He passes them to her, a quick nod given, eyes averted. She takes it, and almost skips off to the sinks. A tiny blush over his face, he works on pouring the chocolate over the cake the four had started creating together.

He helps Andoh place the decorations, stands back as he watches rose boy carefully place a piece montee of candy over it. The Spirits parcel off cards to Queen as is routine, and he's quiet as he watches these everyday processes.

He takes a look at every face in the room- he's determined to keep seeing them everyday, even if he has to put up with Hanabusa's narcissism and Amano's stupidity.

He turns away- he's glad to have met them all, though he'd never admit it. "Oi, Amano, watch your temperature." He reprimands her lightly- knocking her on the head with a fist when he catches the temperature of the melting chocolate.

Chocolat perches on his shoulder and smiles at him. "That's the way, Kashino." She says as he expertly molds marzipan into dolls. "We'll be able to reach our dreams in no time!"

If he gets through this trial. He's determined to- he must. And he will. He turns to her, a sure look on his face. "Aa. Let's do this."

Ichigo, Andoh and Hanabusa exchange smiles while he's not looking, Ichigo's the widest of all. "Kashino's back." She whispers to Vanilla. "We've got our usual Kashino back. He's stopped being all quiet and worried about that transfer."

Oh, they all knew that Kashino was lying to them about walking on the grounds- they'd searched them thoroughly, as well as the rest of the school. They knew that Kashino may be taken away soon by his parents. But this was enough for now.

Kashino was with them, and they would all lend him their strength. Right now, he had them as back-up, and they would all stretch out their hands to help him up.

"Kashino, we're putting it together now!" She calls over as they start creating their second team cake. It went unspoken, the theme for this cake, and they all smile at least a little as they put everything together.

The theme? 'You can depend on me', or so it went. Each flavor, each decoration they all presented in some way relied on another to carry it through. Bittersweet and interlocked with a slow revelation of that intangible friendship, complicated.

It was their theme. Because they were a team, and they would always be there for him.

**I wonder if I should end it here, because I've been making up the plot on the fly. It has a little bit of finality to it, huh?**

***dodges thrown objects* Okay, that refridgerator was uncalled for! Who threw that?**

**14Amy-Chan: I'm glad you like her~, I'm rather fond of Miyabi myself. Sorry- she wasn't with him when the conversation was taking place.**

**PhoenyxWarrior: Oh, thank you! ^_^ I'm sorry it took so long- *cough*months*cough***

**StrawberryDream15: Oh, that's nice, I like her too! I'm sorry about just the undertones of romance- Ah, but if you squint, you can see that Ichigo likes him back. Oh, thank you! ^/^**

**Mikashimoto: Yeeeees, he iiiis, in fact! ^_^ Ah, thank you so much! ^_^**

**xlove like crazyx: Ah, I changed it for the sake of the story- to emphasize the fact that Kashino was breaking off from his family- that he wasn't going to just lie down and take it. Rei means obedience, so I changed it because this is kind of an AU. Thank you for reviewing!**

**forever: Here's the rest! Wow, I keep getting requests to continue Bowing Out- I wonder if I actually should! ^^ Thanks for reviewing!**


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